Pep Guardiola’s intended audience may have been in Barcelona. It often has been, though usually when he was their midfielder, captain or manager. In seven years in Manchester, Guardiola has frequently had to address matters at the Camp Nou, though it was usually only to deny that Lionel Messi was bound for the Etihad Stadium.
Now the subject of another saga is a player from his present, not the increasingly distant past. Manchester City’s summers seem to consist of two rituals: lifting the Premier League trophy and then enduring a wait to see if Bernardo Silva stays. The Portuguese’s most persistent admirers are in Catalonia. The other constant is that Barcelona repeatedly refuse to meet City’s asking price. Sometimes they receive no firm proposal while a cash-strapped club with a recruitment policy based on hoping their allure will encourage players to engineer their exit seemingly think they can acquire elite footballers on the cheap.
All of which is a cause of some irritation in Manchester. Guardiola has long insisted that he will allow players to leave if they want to go, providing he has enough time to find a replacement and an acceptable sum is recouped. Silva has been tempted to go, although seemingly not to Saudi Arabia. But the season starts with both him and the Bayern Munich target Kyle Walker at the Etihad, with Guardiola vowing to do everything he can to keep them, but with the familiar state of affairs that no one has made a suitable offer for Silva. It remains an unsettling, undermining situation.
And so Guardiola seemed to direct a message from Manchester to his old club: in effect, to put up or shut up. “I want to clarify because I know Barcelona reports make up what I say,” he said. “From day one I don't want any players who don't want to be here but I'm an employee. I want to work with guys who want to stay and work with staff and players, but after we have to get a proper offer. If we don't get a proper offer, he's our player and we want him.
“If they want him, they will take a plane and come here and talk to our sporting director and CEO to make an agreement because three parts have to be there. For us to buy a player, just because we are Man City it is £10-15m more expensive than other clubs all the time. If people want our really, really important players, first they have to make an offer - and that hasn't happened. When it happens, we will fight to extend the contract and be with us. That has happened with all of our players since day one.”
The notion of a City tax in signing players is familiar. Josko Gvardiol, whose arrival should be ratified, will become the second most expensive defender in history, at £77m. Barcelona appear to think tax should be deducted at source, that they should get players for below their market value. City think Silva is worth £80m which, as midfielders such as Declan Rice and Enzo Fernandez have commanded nine-figure sums, may not be excessive; it may have been an understatement when Guardiola said it would cost more than £50m to replace the Portuguese international.
City were beneficiaries on one of the few occasions in straitened times when Barcelona, despite their heavy debts, paid a sizeable fee: €55m for Ferran Torres, who has since lost his place in their team. Their powers of persuasion worked on Ilkay Gundogan, who joined on a free transfer. But Barcelona’s difficulties in even registering players is a reason why there has been no bid for Silva this summer, just an extended courtship. Much as Guardiola often praises the midfielder, he has long seemed to have a wanderlust. He may be interested.
Bernardo Silva could play a preferred central role next year if he stays at the Etihad— (AP)
“When you win the treble, it looks like the job is done,” Guardiola said. “Players who are 32, 33 like Ilkay and Riyad [Mahrez] say we arrived here for Premier Leagues and then people ask about the Champions League [and then they win that]. Some players feel they want a new experience.
“I will not be the guy who says no, but they have to make an agreement with the important part of the club, the business. Make a deal and it happens. In the case of Bernardo and Kyle, we talk many times over the last months and even years how important they are, how we want them and we will continue to do so until the end. I don't know what will happen.”
The uncertainty is an annual experience but Silva could be still more important now. Gundogan’s departure may allow him to play his preferred role in the middle of midfield. For Guardiola, he is central, in more ways than one. And if Silva has the technical talent to play for Barcelona, it comes with the kind of price tag that, so far, they have been unwilling or unable to match.
